1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulically damped multi-chamber hydraulic bushing, which is capable of being loaded perpendicular to its axial direction. The bushing comprises two supporting sleeves, one surrounding the other. The sleeves are braced against each other by means of at least one spring element of an elastic material, whereby the spring element partially surrounds the inner supporting sleeve, and whereby the outer supporting sleeve and the spring element define at least two diametrically opposed chambers. The chambers are arranged perpendicular to the axial direction, are filled with an incompressible fluid, and are fluidly interconnected through at least one connecting port.
2. Description of the Related Art
European Published Patent Application 0 326 504 discloses a hydraulic bushing. The hydraulic bushing in this patent is formed with a plurality of fluid-filled chambers, which are fluidly interconnected through a passage. In this bushing, however, the insulation of high-frequency, small-amplitude vibrations is not satisfactory because of the small isolation surface necessitated by the type of construction used. Moreover, because the supporting body contacts the fluid over a large surface, high-frequency vibrations are transmitted to the fluid and lead to vorticity and to an increase in the dynamic spring rate. Furthermore, this hydraulic bushing has a comparatively complicated construction and consists of many individual parts, so that many separate operations are required during assembly. In this bushing the damping of low-frequency vibrations is also not very satisfactory. Finally, dissimilar pump conditions occur in the working chambers and as a result, the volume increase must be taken up in the chamber walls, causing them to expand. Thus, the output volume and attainable damping are adversely affected.